The present invention relates to a joy stick.
As shown in FIG. 9, a related-art joy stick 9 comprises an upper casing 1; a lower casing 2 engaged with the upper casing 1; a box-shaped casing body 3 formed by coupling the upper casing 1 and lower casing 2; a pair of upper and lower pivot members 4 and 5 disposed so as to be pivotable perpendicularly to each other inside the casing body 3; an operating member 8 having one end portion extending to an outside of the casing body 3 through a pair of slots 6 and 7 respectively formed in the pivot members 4 and 5 so as to extend in longitudinal directions thereof; and a spring (not shown) for urging the pair of pivot members 4 and 5 to place them in their neutral positions, a pair of signal output devices (not shown) operable to output signals corresponding to respective pivoted angles of the pivot members 4 and 5 pivot (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-223276A).
In the related-art joy stick, the upper casing 1 is made of a metal, and the lower casing 2 is made of a resin. A pivot shaft 5a is sandwiched in between a bearing 1a of the upper casing 1 and a bearing 2a of lower casing 2 so as to be rotatably supported in the casing body 3.
As shown in FIG. 10, the metal-made upper casing 1 which is in contact with the pivot shaft 5a is formed by press working, and its worked surface serves as the bearing 1a. Burrs may be formed on the worked surface. When the pivot shaft 5a slides thereon the burrs may cause damage to an outer peripheral surface of the pivot shaft 5a. The damaged outer peripheral surface may disturb pivoting and may cause the uncomfortable operation feeling. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the pivot shaft 5a may be likely to be worn so that the product lifetime may be shortened. For this reason, management of press working is required so as not to form burrs, so that the cost becomes high.
In addition, both the upper casing and the lower casing may conceivably be made of a resin material to eliminate the occurrence of the burrs, but a problem occurs in terms of durability unless the entire upper casing is formed firmly by being provided with a sufficient thickness.
If the entire upper casing is provided with the sufficient thickness, a shape of the entire upper casing becomes large, so that a downsizing of the joy stick becomes difficult. Further, when the joy stick is mounted on a board, a screw is passed through a hole formed on the board from a lower side of the board, and is fixed to a hole in the lower casing. In this fixing structure, however, since the joy stick is fixed at only one spot, the board maybe broken when excessive force is applied to a screwed portion during the operation.